They Shut Us Down”: West Hollywood Residents Confront SB 79 — and a City Council That Won’t Listen

Residents, both renters and homeowners, from across West Hollywood — West Hollywood West, WeHo Heights, Norma Triangle, West Hollywood North, Mid-City, and West Hollywood East — were represented and filled a rooftop deck Wednesday night, openly angry at a state law taking effect in 64 days and at a City Council majority they said has done nothing to help mitigate it’s destructive impact on their neighborhoods. 

The West Hollywood West Residents Association organized the meeting at the ARC/Pool Building on El Tovar Place. No City staff attended. No elected officials showed up.

Jonathan Finestone, president of the association, was direct from the start. “It’s not just a West Hollywood West issue,” he said before the meeting. “It’s a citywide issue.”

SB 79 takes effect July 1. The state housing law mandates high-density development by right within a half mile of qualifying transit stations — no public hearing, no council vote. Four station areas potentially impact West Hollywood.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

“That means overnight on July 1, the entire 83 percent of the city has been rezoned without any community input,” Finestone said. “And frankly, no community knowledge. For imaginary trains that may be here in 20 or 30 years.” Finestone said the half-mile radius around four qualifying station areas — Beverly and La Cienega,  Santa Monica and San Vicente, Santa Monica and Fairfax, and Santa Monica and La Brea covers that 83 percent.

Most residents on the deck said they had no idea it was coming. Several said the City never told them or did a poor job in trying to inform them and help them to better understand the wide-ranging impact it would have on their city and its neighborhoods.

Under SB 79, Finestone said, developers who already own properties in the neighborhood — and who will continue to acquire them — can go to planning and request to build five, six, seven, and eight story buildings where one and two story buildings have stood for a century. On a 4,000 square foot lot, a developer could put 26 units. No parking required. Setbacks of three or four feet. “Residents are going to be shocked when they see an eight story building going up where there used to be a one or two story building,” he said.

Residents pointed to 946-948 N. Hayworth as the before-and-after picture. A one-story rent-stabilized fourplex was demolished there for what is now a six-story building. Under SB 79, Victor Omelczenko, a Center City resident who has been organizing on the issue, said that same lot could qualify for eight stories or more as a baseline — and potentially higher with state density bonus layered on top. The six-story building going up now, “will become the small building.“​​​​​​​​

Some even raised the possibility of legal action — specifically a court challenge filed before July 1 that could seek a temporary restraining order halting SB 79 permits while the discrepancy is litigated. Nothing has been filed yet. 

A red sign went up first: “CHELSEA BYERS’ BIG LIE: ‘OUR HANDS ARE TIED.'” The quote came from the December 9 ZAP the ZIP town hall, where Byers told residents the City had limited options against state law. Finestone called it the opposite of true. “Their hands are not tied,” he said. “As you see by the vote, they are the ones so-called tying their hands.”

Then a second sign. Three quotes attributed to Councilmember John Erickson from the April 6 City Council meeting: “I’m not interested in that discussion, I don’t…” / “I think having a conversation is setting the public up for a different outcome than is already expected.” / “I can’t afford to buy a house in West Hollywood because of its restrictive zoning.” This is Erickson dictating to you and taking away your rights because he can’t afford to buy a house in West Hollywood, Finestone said. 

The crowd booed.

Both signs referenced the April 6 meeting, where Mayor John Heilman proposed that planning staff return with a formal SB 79 discussion. Erickson, Byers, and Councilmember Danny Hang voted it down without substantive debate. “They shut us down,” Finestone said. “They said no to what you want, no to community involvement, and yes to redlining.”

Ali Shahidi, a West Hollywood resident who attended Monday’s City Council meeting, said Erickson was on his phone during public comment. “I had to call him out,” he said. “They have shut us down. And not only that, when we go to speak, they’re on their phones checking social media.”

“The city council is making decisions that are wrong for the whole community — not only today, but it will have an everlasting impact for the next 50 years,” Shahidi said. “And they’re doing it without consulting with us, without listening to our voices, completely ignoring us.”

“They [residents] should demand the city council be transparent about their decisions,” he said. “This will not be a city for you to live in after this happens.”

One resident said she attended a recent neighborhood federation meeting where SB 79 came up during state senate candidate presentations. Erickson, who is running for the SD-24 seat, did not address it. His opponent Brian Goldsmith did — telling the room he is troubled by the direction Sacramento has taken on local control and wants to see that power returned to cities.

SB 79 passed the California Senate with the bare minimum — 21 out of 40 votes. It cleared the Assembly 43 to 19. It nearly died in committee when Assembly Speaker, Robert Rivas, replaced a known NO vote with a YES vote to push it through the Assembly Appropriations Committee 8 to 6.

“It passed by the narrowest of margins possible,” said Kyle Brazeal, a city council candidate who attended the meeting. “People understood the flaws.”

Finestone also challenged whether the K Line stations should count under SB 79 at all. The stations were not formally planned before the January 1, 2026 cutoff in the law, he said. They were contemplated. Not finalized. The only entity with standing to challenge that in court is the City. “We need a city government that will stand up for the residents and litigate against the state,” Finestone said. “And they’re not doing that.”

Victor Omelczenko, who has been organizing on SB 79, put a number on it. The Metro Board did not formally approve the San Vicente alignment until March 26 — 85 days after the January 1 deadline written into the law. “Why is the City Council and the City Attorney not challenging the July 1 implementation date based on this 85-day discrepancy?” Omelczenko said.

SB 1361, authored by Sen. María Elena Durazo, went before the Senate Housing Committee Tuesday — the day before Wednesday’s meeting. The bill would prevent SB 79 from applying to planned but not-yet-operational transit stops. Metro has separately told lawmakers its rail lines — including the K Line — may not even qualify under SB 79’s definition of light rail transit. Metro says the ambiguity exposes the agency to litigation. None of it resolves before July 1. Even if SB 1361 passes, the law would still apply to those stations for six months — July 1 through January 1, 2027. The committee, chaired by a key ally of SB 79’s author Sen. Scott Wiener, was considered a steep climb for the bill. No result had been published as of publication time. The City has not publicly challenged the station counting or taken a position on SB 1361.

Larry Block, a West Hollywood business owner who has signaled his intention to run for City Council, attended the meeting and spoke with WEHOonline. Block said West Hollywood’s failure to pass an on-time housing element left the city without the leverage it needed to plan on its own terms. “We could have planned how we reach these numbers on our commercial corridors,” Block said. “That’s what West Hollywood West is trying to do now — ask, can’t we plan better and put all these units along the commercial corridors and have some balance within our neighborhoods.”

“This whole proposal is a big break in trust from all the promises that were made to rent controlled apartment building residents, who are all under threat now,” Block said. “If their rents aren’t high enough to pencil out for the landlord, he can sell that building to a developer, combine two lots, and move those residents out. There’s no provision for all the people who get kicked out of their homes.”

“Displacement and disruption are two real costs of SB 79,” Brazeal said. “West Hollywood’s founding was built on the need for rent stabilization to create affordability. There will be real displacement of people that live here.”

“Whether Sacramento and SCAG decide how we build and develop our community, or whether our elected officials and city staff, along with resident input, form our community the way we think it needs to happen,” Brazeal said. “To date, I have yet to see the majority of the city council act in a way that represents our local interests.”

Finestone said it comes down to rights. “West Hollywood is a city based on rights — gay rights and renter’s rights,” he said. “When someone’s rights are being eliminated — in this case property owners, or people that rent from property owners — that’s a scary thing. Maybe they come for you next.”

Stephanie Harker, a renter and longtime resident, said the council has kept residents in the dark deliberately. “They don’t want a discussion from the residents,” she said. “They want to be able to sneak it through.”

She invoked the city’s founding. “We were founded by the Coalition for Economic Survival because the rents were being raised,” Harker said. “And we’ve become what we’re against.”

She described a conversation with an elderly neighbor near the approved Hayworth Avenue project. “She said, it won’t matter if it’s two stories or four stories or six stories. I still will have no light in my window ever again in my life.”

Evan Casis moved from Studio City and is mid-construction on a single-family home in West Hollywood. He came to understand what he had walked into. “Mid-process, you get hit with a little switch-up,” Casis said. He said it felt like a bait and switch. He bought into a neighborhood with a reasonable expectation of what it would look like.

Cynthia Blatt has lived in West Hollywood since 1993. “I see nothing wrong with having a village in the middle of a great big city,” she said. “I’m here because I care.”

Finestone closed with the call to action. Show up to City Council. Speak during public comment on every item and use the time to talk about SB 79. “Tell the city this is unacceptable,” he said. “Stop the redlining now.”

In November, three council seats will be open. Heilman and Meister are termed out. Byers is the only incumbent.

“Start thinking about who your elected representatives are — who will fight Sacramento for you, and who will do the right thing when it comes to either rejecting these imaginary stations or creating a TODAP,” Finestone said. “That’s all I have tonight.”

Editor’s note: Larry Block is co-owner of WEHOonline’s parent company, Boystown Media. He has no editorial role in WEHOonline. WEHOonline maintains a strict editorial firewall from its ownership. Block’s comments are included here as a potential candidate for city council and a participant in a public meeting covered by WEHOonline’s editorial staff.